Originally, Frank Sinatra had planned to record Only the Lonely with Gordon Jenkins, who had arranged his previous all-ballads album, Where Are You. Jenkins was unavailable at the time of the sessions, which led Sinatra back to his original arranger at Capitol, Nelson Riddle. The result is arguably his greatest ballads album.Read More

Breaking slightly from his pattern of a swing album following the release of ballads set, Frank Sinatra followed No One Cares with Nice ‘N’ Easy, a breezy collection of mid-tempo numbers arranged by Nelson Riddle. Not only is it the lightest set that he recorded for Capitol, it is the one with the loosest theme. Sinatra selected a collection of songs he had sang early in his career, having Riddle rearrange the tunes with warm, cheery textures.Read More

After the ballad-heavy In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle returned to up-tempo, swing material with Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!, arguably the vocalist’s greatest swing set. Like Sinatra’s previous Capitol albums, Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! consists of reinterpreted pop standards, ranging from the ten-year-old “You Make Me Feel So Young” to the 20-year-old “Pennies From Heaven” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” Sinatra is supremely confident throughout the album, singing with authority and joy.Read More

At the time he recorded his final Capitol album, Point of No Return, Frank Sinatra was no longer interested in giving his record label first-rate material, preferring to save that for his new label, Reprise. However, someone persuaded the singer to make the album a special occasion by reuniting with Axel Stordahl, the arranger/conductor who helped Sinatra rise to stardom in the ’40s; he also arranged the vocalist’s first Capitol session, so his presence gave a nice sense of closure to the Capitol era.Read More

Frank Sinatra was arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rivals for the title being Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. In a professional career that lasted 60 years, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to maintain his appeal and pursue his musical goals despite often countervailing trends. He came to the fore during the swing era of the 1930s and ’40s, helped to define the “sing era” of the ’40s and ’50s, and continued to attract listeners during the rock era that began in the mid-’50s. He scored his first number one hit in 1940 and was still making million-selling recordings in 1994.Read More

In some ways, A Swingin’ Affair! is “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!, Pt. 2,” following the same formula of Sinatra’s hit album of the previous year. Beneath the surface, there are enough variations on A Swingin’ Affair! to make it a distinctive, and equally enjoyable listen. The most noticeable difference between the two records is their basic approach. Where Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! swung hard but managed to stay rather light, A Swingin’ Affair! is a forceful, brassy album — it exudes a self-assured, confident aura. It is a hard, jazzy album. However, the attack is more brash.Read More

Frank Sinatra’s second set of torch songs recorded with Gordon Jenkins, No One Cares was nearly as good as its predecessor Where Are You? Expanding the melancholy tone of the duo’s previous collaboration, No One Cares consists of nothing but brooding, lonely songs.Read More

Following the hard-driving A Swingin’ Affair, Frank Sinatra released another all-ballads record, Where Are You? The album was the first he recorded at Capitol without Nelson Riddle, as well as the first he recorded in stereo. Where Riddle’s down beat albums are stately and sullen, Jenkins favors lush, melancholy arrangements played by large, string-dominated orchestras. Jenkins’ arrangements suggested classical textures, although the tempos alluded to Billie Holiday’s ballad style.Read More

Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session!!! And More is a fast, driving album, the speediest and hardest swing collection Frank Sinatra ever recorded. The majority of the album is a re-recording of six of the eight songs from his first LP, Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra, as rearranged by Nelson Riddle. Sinatra performed the songs twice as fast as was expected; consequently, it’s one of his jazziest swing sets, with the musicians spitting out energetic, forceful solos and providing tough, gutsy support.Read More

Sinatra ’57 in Concert is a 1999 live album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It is a complete recording of a concert performed at the Seattle Civic Auditorium on June 9, 1957. It was digitally remastered and officially released from a recording made by Wally Heider and first released as a bootleg. Nelson Riddle, the arranger, conducted the orchestra at this concert.Read More

Most of the Sinatra recordings available during the 1950s consisted of his contemporary work for Capitol Records. But every so often his former label, Columbia Records, would get something together on LP from among his ’40s and early-’50s sides. The Voice was one of a handful of ’50s long-players showcasing the first phase of Sinatra’s solo career, and at the time it wowed listeners — the focus is on the ballads, andRead More